


a perfect inelegance

by demonglass



Category: NCT (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, M/M, Moving In Together, Plans For The Future, Sappy, Vignette, listen to taylor swift for the full immersive experience, they are just here and in love
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-09-11
Updated: 2020-09-11
Packaged: 2021-03-06 18:27:37
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,818
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26353420
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/demonglass/pseuds/demonglass
Summary: The new apartment is a mess of scattered boxes waiting to be unpacked, and dust-bunnies in the corners that need sweeping, but even amidst all the chaos, Renjun smiles. This place is a blank slate for him and for Donghyuck, and together, they're going to build themselves a home.
Relationships: Huang Ren Jun/Lee Donghyuck | Haechan
Comments: 10
Kudos: 94





	a perfect inelegance

**Author's Note:**

> this was supposed to be a drabble for my twitter but it got away from me so now here we are :) i did manage to get all the keywords people commented on my post asking for inspiration tho so a win!!!! i hope u enjoy me once again pushing the soft renhyuck agenda <3

The walls are bare, stark white in the overhead light. Renjun spins in a circle, taking it all in— the blank slate of it all, the history waiting to be written. The opportunity for splashes of color, for paintings and photos and posters with peeling tape to be hung.

"I can't believe we got a south-facing window," Donghyuck says, already all the way across the floor, leaning against the windowsill, peering out into the gradually-waking city. "There's going to be so much light."

Renjun walks over to him slowly, wrapping an arm around his shoulders because Donghyuck slouches like no one else Renjun's ever met, and it's all too easy to hold him like this even though he's technically taller and broader. Donghyuck leans into his side without taking his eyes off the silver-pink view.

"I'll never make fun of Doyoung again," Donghyuck carries on. "I'm gonna get him the good taffy next time we go to the coast. He deserves it for finding this place."

Renjun laughs, watching the edges of the sky turn cherry red as the sun rises far in the east. It's much too early for them to be awake and moving in, but Donghyuck had insisted they get it started as soon as possible, so they could get it all over with before the middle of the night. Renjun thinks it's because he has a gaming tournament scheduled for later in the night that he doesn't want to miss, but honestly, Donghyuck is worse about mornings than he is - all wrapped up in his hoodie, string pulled tight so just his face and a small tuft of brown hair are visible - so Renjun can't complain.

It makes Renjun feel young and old all at once, standing here in a nearly empty apartment before the sun has even risen past the horizon. Young because his veins seem to be singing with possibility, with energy despite the godforsaken hour, because he feels like he could conquer this whole corner of the world with Donghyuck at his side. Old because this is it— their first apartment together, the next step in their life as two parts of a unit, two members of the same team. Because this feels like really being and becoming an adult, even though technically he’s been one for years; having responsibility and sharing it with Donghyuck.

"I can hear you thinking," Donghyuck says lowly, voice softened by the hour, by the magnitude of all this.

Renjun huffs out a small laugh. "Thinking about how we should get a move on before your older brother brigade shows up to scold us for making them do all the grunt work?"

"No," Donghyuck says, finally turning away from the window, shifting under Renjun's arm so he can face him. He leans in close, so his forehead is nearly brushing Renjun's temple. "You're thinking about something profound and dramatic. Something sappy, I bet."

Renjun scoffs, but Donghyuck's got him dead to rights. "I wish you didn't know me so well," he lies.

Donghyuck smiles, pressing closer so Renjun can feel the curve of his lips ghosting against his cheek. "You don't," he teases.

Renjun wants to roll his eyes, to tease Donghyuck back, but he's right, and the sleepiness clinging him thanks to the early hour has softened Renjun, too. Instead of saying anything, he twists so his nose knocks against Donghyuck's, and kisses him.

Donghyuck makes a soft sound of surprise, then one of contentment at the gentle affection, easily given. When he pulls away, his eyes are fond. "I like it when you're sappy."

Renjun smiles, sliding his hand down Donghyuck's shoulder, over the soft fabric of his hoodie, until he finds the tips of Donghyuck's fingers peeking out of the very bottom of the sleeve. He slips his hand around Donghyuck's. "I know," he says, still with that smile. "But I was also right about us needing to get to work. I think Johnny already wants me dead for stealing his precious baby brother; I don't need to give him any more reasons to cook up murder plots."

"Aw, he'd never kill you babe. He deals in blackmail, not murder. It's Doyoung you have to watch out for— he holds a grudge like nobody's business, and he has connections you wouldn't believe."

"Thank you. I feel so much better," Renjun says flatly.

Donghyuck laughs, bright and _delighted,_ and Renjun can't keep the unimpressed look on his face even a moment longer when Donghyuck is so happy right in front of him. The sun isn't even up over the trees yet, but Donghyuck is already radiant, even in just the fluorescent overhead lights.

"Come on," he says with a smile, stepping away from the window and pulling Donghyuck along with him. "We've got boxes to unpack before the guys get here with the furniture."

"Anything for you, my love," Donghyuck says. The term of endearment slips out naturally, not like he's saying it to tease, but like he really means it.

Renjun pauses, halfway across the floor, and Donghyuck walks right into his back. He seems to realize what he's said a moment after Renjun, because he murmurs a quiet, _oh,_ under his breath.

"We're like old people," he says, a bit louder, through half a laugh. “Fifteen minutes here and the years are already catching up to me.”

Renjun starts moving again, fighting the heat blooming in his cheeks and in his chest, determined to get to the scattered and stacked boxes that hold the lives the two of them had packed up and moved across miles to set up in this new apartment, this new place, _together._

"You're not allowed to call us old when we're still in our twenties," Renjun says, like he hadn't just been thinking something along the same lines a few moments earlier.

"I can just picture it," Donghyuck sighs, like Renjun's words had gone in one ear and out the other. "The two of us, listening to old records, swaying around on a carpet in front of the couch like your grandma and gramps. Dinner going in a crock pot and the news muted on the TV."

Something squeezes in Renjun's chest and then bursts at the thought of growing old and still being with Donghyuck, at the fact that Donghyuck is bringing it up, can _see_ it in his head. "That sounds like a scene in a movie," he says. "Not like something real. I've never seen my grandparents do that."

"That's because it's the kind of thing you do in private," Donghyuck says like it's the simplest thing in the world. "Not in front of kids. Just because you’ve never seen it, doesn’t mean it’s never happened. Here, I'm picturing late night or like... midday on a weekend with the sun coming in through the curtains and making this bright puddle of light on the floor, you and me spinning in and out of it like it's a disco ball."

Renjun swallows hard and comes to a stop in front of the first stack of boxes: kitchenware. He tears his eyes away from the label written in Donghyuck's messy scrawl and faces Donghyuck again. Part of him expects to find a teasing look painted across Donghyuck's face, but all he finds is a faraway look, like Donghyuck is really thinking about this. About a future where the two of them are still together and still so in love that all they need to be happy is a meal simmering in the kitchen and each other's presence.

"Hey," Renjun says, voice softened by the lump in his throat. He squeezes Donghyuck's hand and Donghyuck's eyes focus on him, coming back to the present, to 6:00am in their bare new apartment, their lives boxed away and still in shambles, in disarray around them, waiting to be whipped into shape, settled into place. "I love you."

Donghyuck nods. "I love you, too."

"I want to picture all that too— and more, honestly. But I also kind of want to just be _here_ , now, making sure we can actually get there. I want to build that home you want to sway around in so we can really do it someday, but I think we have to get the couch in first, get the rug down, get the TV set up, get the curtains hung and the crock pot plugged in. We have to work for it, and I kind of want to savor the working so the rest at the end is ever sweeter."

Donghyuck blinks at him, rapidly, like there's dust in his eyes. He doesn't say anything, but Renjun knows what his answer, his response to the confession is when he leans in and catches Renjun's lips in a kiss almost as aching as it is sweet. Hopeful and grateful and determined all at once. When he pulls away, his grip on Renjun's hand is still tight, like he doesn’t plan on letting go.

"Let's start here, okay?" Renjun says, gesturing with his free hand to the _kitchenware #1_ box. They've got a whole wall of cabinets in the kitchen just waiting to be filled with their jumbled mess of dish sets and mismatched cups.

Donghyuck looks at the boxes behind Renjun, then back to Renjun. "Okay," he agrees. "We're gonna body this like grown-ups, or teenagers on redbull. And later, after Johnny and Doyoung help us set up our bed and we trick them into buying us food and then kick them out, I'm gonna help you make the bed with those cute fucking sheets you just bought, and then I'm gonna kiss you until I literally can't breathe. And then maybe pass out because I’ll probably be exhausted.” He laughs, eyes crinkling at the corners. “I hope that's okay with you."

Renjun smiles. In the far edge of the room, blush pink light cuts a small square against the wall as the sun climbs higher in the sky, bringing in the new day. Renjun knows the day is going to be long, is going to leave him tired and his muscles aching from all the work, but he also knows he's going to climb into bed with Donghyuck at the end of it all, and he's going to sleep well in his new home for all his troubles.

And now he knows he's going to kiss Donghyuck even if they'll both taste like pizza grease or chicken lo mein, and he's going to love it. And everything, all this hard work, is going to be worth it— already _is_ worth it because this, right here and now, even in all its inelegance, is exactly what Renjun wants simply because it's with Donghyuck.

"Yeah," he says, thumbing gently against the back of Donghyuck's hand, squeezing it. "I'm definitely okay with that. In fact, it sounds perfect."

"Perfect," Donghyuck agrees, smiling.

It will be. It is.


End file.
